1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of wagering, casino or slot machine wagering, wagering using symbol-bearing objects with multiple colors, and particularly games wagering on colors of playing cards.
2. Background of the Art
Card games have always been popular as wagering games. The history of card games reaches back into biblical times. There are basically two main formats for play of card games, games in which combinations of cards are ranked (e.g., poker-type games) and games in which values of cards are counted (e.g., blackjack and baccarat-type games). There are also some games that have combined these two types of play, as by using hands or combinations of hands from a blackjack game to form poker hands.
Casino-type wagering games are also played in formats of players-versus-players, players-versus-dealers and players' hands versus a paytable. Some casino games also combine one or more of these game formats, as by players wagering in player-versus-dealer poker games, with an additional wagering event on achieving particularly high ranks in player hands, as is done in Three-Card Poker® games.
Examples of some of the variant casino wagering game formats disclosed in the literature include U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,843 (Roberts) that discloses a process and apparatus for making side wagers or proposition (prop) bets in a table or video game. The game is a method of playing a single card game based upon cards dealt to a player from a deck of playing cards comprising: providing a deck of playing cards; providing a game table with a table top area, a dealer's position, at least one player's position, a first wager area on the table top area adjacent to the player's position and plural second wager areas on the table top area adjacent to the player's position; the player placing a first wager based upon the outcome of the game involving the cards and based upon the winning of the card game, wherein the first wager is placed upon the first area adjacent to the player's position on the table top area; the player placing at least two second prop wagers independent from playing the card game itself and whether said player wins the card game, the second prop wager is based upon the player playing for an occurrence of one or more suit, color, face card or odd and even numbered combinations of all cards that are dealt from the deck to the player during the card game, the second wager is placed upon the second area adjacent to the player's position; the dealer dealing a hand of cards to the player; the dealer selectively dealing or not dealing a card or cards to the player based upon the decision of the player; the dealer paying the player a benefit when the player wins the first wager based upon the winning of the card game; the dealer paying the player a benefit when the player wins any second wager based upon the occurrence of one or more suit, color, face card or odd and even numbered combinations of cards as of the end of the game, independent of whether the player wins the first wager.
In addition to these wagering options, some alternative wagering options are described in the specification of the Roberts patent. These options include:                5. The first two cards received by a player will be cards in the same suit from the group comprising aces, twos, threes and fours paying 40 to 1.        6. The first two cards received by a player and the dealer up card will each be cards of the same suit from the group comprising aces, twos, threes, and fours paying 80 to 1.There are thus two wagers based upon cards being the same suit.        
U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,485 (Woodland et al.) describes a side bet wager on only the player's cards. The patent describes the game as: “A method of playing a card game comprising the steps of: providing a deck of cards comprising a plurality of different numerical values; providing at least one player with the opportunity to place a single wager on whether the first two cards displayed to said player will be one of a predetermined plurality of two-card winning combinations, and wherein said plurality of two-card winning combinations comprises a first winning combination of cards having a cumulative value of twelve and a second winning combination of cards having a cumulative value of thirteen to sixteen initially displaying two cards to each player; and resolving each wager by providing a winning payout to a player who placed correct wager.” The wager is on ranges of point counts in a player's 2-card hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,800 (Webb) teaches a method of playing a side game in combination with a game of chance where a dealer hand of playing cards is dealt to a dealer and a player hand of playing cards is dealt to a player. The method includes receiving a side game wager from the player, wherein after dealing the dealer hand and the player hand, all playing cards from the dealer hand and player hand are combined into a combined hand. The side game wager is resolved according to the playing cards in the combined hand. Typically, the side game wager is resolved according to non-poker combinations, such as characteristics of the playing cards including card color, picture cards or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,969 (Yoseloff) describes a side game with potential wagering along with an underlying game. The side game may include the use of symbols or cards or card figures, and may be played live, on video gaming apparatus, or with a combination of live play and various display means, including, but not limited to, cathode ray tubes (monitors), light-emitting diodes (LED's), Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD's), plasma displays and other video gaming displays. A method of playing both an underlying game and a side bet game comprises the steps of: a) playing an underlying game in which at least two cards are received and at least two cards are kept by a player at the end of an underlying game and at least one wager is placed by the player on the underlying game, b) a player placing a wager on a side bet game, c) providing to the view of the player at least two randomly generated cards which become a part of the side bet game, d) comparing the at least two cards kept at the end of the underlying game to the at least two randomly generated cards which become part of the side bet game, and e) determining a level of correspondence between the at least two cards kept at the end of the underlying game and the at least two randomly generated cards which become part of the side bet game. Wagers may be placed at any time before, during or after play of the underlying game.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,003 (Potter et al.) describes a method wherein a side bet game is integrated with a base casino game. The side bet is based on the outcome of a random event or multiple random events that takes place before the base casino game begins. A wide variety of random events could be utilized, such as: the value, color or suit of a random card, the roll of dice, the spin of a wheel or slot reel, the flip of a coin, electronically displaying a random number on display means, etc. If the player wins the side bet, both the amount wagered and the amount won become a mandatory wager, and must be wagered on the immediately following hand of the base casino game. One type of embodiment of the present invention will require that if the player loses the side bet game, the side bet is collected, and the player must place a wager in order to participate in the immediately following hand of the base casino game. Another type of embodiment of the present invention will require that if the player loses the side bet only a portion of the side bet will be collected the remainder must be wagered on the base casino game.
In spite of the various games available, it is still desirable to design new casino wagering games that are easily understood by players, and offer a reasonable frequency of player wins and reasonable return for the casino.